Review: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Brave New World

by Aldous Huxley

Far in the future, the World Controllers have finally created the ideal society. In laboratories worldwide, genetic science has brought the human race to perfection. From the Alpha-Plus mandarin class to the Epsilon-Minus Semi-Morons, designed to perform menial tasks, man is bred and educated to be blissfully content with his pre-destined role.

But, in the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre, Bernard Marx is unhappy. Harbouring an unnatural desire for solitude, feeling only distaste for the endless pleasures of compulsory promiscuity, Bernard has an ill-defined longing to break free. A visit to one of the few remaining Savage Reservations where the old, imperfect life still continues, may be the cure for his distress…

A fantasy of the future that sheds a blazing critical light on the present--considered to be Aldous Huxley' s most enduring masterpiece.

Paperback, 268 pages

Published September 1st 1998 by Harper Perennial (first published 1931)

LONG STORY SHORT:

This book is for world-building lovers and for hardcore dystopian lovers. Oh, and for readers who tend to belong more to the adult part of Young Adult. If you are mainly looking for characters to fall in love with or for action packed plots or for a showdown at the end - Brave New World is probably not going to be your new favorite book. It should be interesting for most people, though, because it is a dystopian novel written almost a hundred years ago!

RATING: 2/3 Smarties

REVIEW:

I had to read Brave New World for school so - I had to hate this book from the beginning. Apart from that obligatory hatred, though, I enjoyed it quite a bit. At least from the beginning to middle. Huxley's view of a future world is...highly interesting - and refreshing for someone who has only read dystopias published after the year 2010. No dystopia I have ever read had those elements like conditioning and soma - ways to make the whole population of the state content and ...um...pretty numb, too.

I liked how detailed these elements were portrayed in the beginning, it made it easy to imagine exactly how things are managed in the World State.

Also, the so-called Reservations, a place outside of the World State were such a unique setting - I've never read about anything like it before!

Then again, that's pretty much everything I really found good in Brave New World. Several things I didn't like:

the characters were not exactly unique, but easily exchangable. The only one that made some kind of development was John and maybe Bernard, too, but none of them really changed his attititude and opinions. What bothered me most was that a "real" dystopian ending did not take place. Or maybe that's just what irritated me a lot. I've never read dystopia where the world just stays the same in the end...it's depressing! Ever thought about it?

Okay, so, ll in all Brave New World is a short book with an interesting take on dystopia and a BUNCH of cool technological elements that will fascinate every geek out there. On the other hand especially the lame ending will probably put you down a bit...